The Law Association has been given the all clear to complete its investigation into the veracity of misconduct allegations levelled against embattled Chief Justice Ivor Archie.

Delivering a 15-page judgment yesterday, five Law Lords of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council dismissed a lawsuit from Archie challenging the association’s jurisdiction to conduct the inquiry.

The decision means that the association can now hold a special general meeting of its members to consider a report into the allegations and decide if they are sufficient to refer them to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to invoke impeachment proceedings under Section 137 of the Constitution.

Regardless of the eventual decision of the association’s membership, the final decision still rests with Rowley, as he has the sole discretion to decide whether to make the recommendation to the President to appoint a tribunal to investigate the allegations.

In a press release issued shortly after the judgment was published on the court’s website, yesterday, Archie still sought to justify his decision to file the lawsuit against the Law Association, earlier this year.

“I had instructed that these proceedings be brought as a last resort and only when the Law Association declared that they could hold a member of the Judiciary “to account”. That I considered to be a threat of grave concern and contrary to the independence of the Judiciary and the rule of law,” Archie said.

Although the Privy Council rejected all the complaints raised by the Chief Justice in the appeal, Archie appeared to not want to concede defeat as he highlighted portions of the judgment, in which the court urged the association to be cautious in disseminating its final report.

“I welcome these strong statements of principle and good sense, It is my hope that I will not need in the future to have recourse to the courts to establish my rights,” Archie said.

In contrast, the association, in its release, maintained that Archie’s claim was misconceived as it had handled the entire situation correctly.

“As the association has maintained all along, it has no disciplinary power over the Chief Justice and he is not bound to participate in the association’s investigation. But it is within the association’s statutory mandate to investigate serious allegations against any member of the Judiciary which may undermine the administration of justice and rule of law,” the release stated.

The association noted that as a result of the decision, an injunction, which was granted to Archie pending the appeal, was automatically discharged.

It stated that it would not make any further statements until the meeting, to discuss the investigation with its members, is called.

In his lawsuit, Archie’s lawyers contended that the association’s investigation mimicked the Section 137 procedure.

President of the UK Supreme Court, Baroness Brenda Hale, who chaired the panel and wrote the judgment, disagreed.

“The short answer to all these points is that the association is in no position to make findings of fact which are in any way binding upon the Chief Justice or upon any tribunal which might be established under Section 137,” she said.

She also suggested that the association was the ideal party to make such a recommendation to the prime minister.

“Indeed, as a body of lawyers, who have so far proceeded with considerable caution, they might be thought better able to conduct such an investigation and present its conclusions in a responsible way than many others,” she said.

However, she warned the association of potential impact of disseminating the findings of fact in its report.

“If the association’s conclusions on the facts are published, there would be widespread media coverage and pressure on the Chief Justice to resign, thus undermining the very protection which the Section 137 process is designed to give him,” Hale added.

Hale and her colleagues also refused to accept Archie’s allegations that the association was biased as it passed a motion of no-confidence against him and members of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) over their handling of the short-lived judicial appointment of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, last year.

They noted that High Court Judge Nadia Kangaloo, who initially approved the lawsuit, and the Court of Appeal, which later reversed Kangaloo’s decision, both agreed that it (the association) is not biased.

“The local courts in T&T are far better placed that is this Board to consider what the fair-minded and informed observer in T&T would make of the matters complained of. It is not for this Board to disagree,” Hale said.

Archie was represented by Philip Havers, QC, John Jeremie, SC, Ian Benjamin, SC, Kerwyn Garcia and Hannah Noyce. The association was represented by Christopher Hamel-Smith, SC, Jason Mootoo, Rishi Dass and Alvin Pariagsingh.

An 80-year-old pensioner was burnt to death in a fire that destroyed his home during the early hours of yesterday.

According to a police report, at about 2 am, fire was seen coming from the small wooden house of Christopher Hylan, at Ryan Street, Petit Bourg.

Fire officers from the San Juan Fire Station responded to the blaze, however, when they got there the house was already engulfed in flames.

Police said Hylan’s charred remains were found near a doorway.

Police said Hylan had his left leg amputated several years ago.

The house was owned by him and his daughter.

Fire prevention officers are expected to revisit the scene today, as up to press time yesterday, they were unable to determine a cause and origin of the deadly fire.

Investigations are continuing.

—Rhondor Dowlat

Residents of La Puerta, Diego Martin are calling on frequent police patrols in the area in a bid to restore a sense of security following Wednesday’s double murder where David Charles and Kurt “Ratty” Smith were gunned down by men pretending to be police officers.

Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, a resident and close associate of Smith, claimed that the same vehicle used by the killers, a white Hyundai Tucson, was seen in the area the night before the murder.

The resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also claimed that the occupants of the vehicle were seen bundling a man into the vehicle close to Four Roads. However, police officers, when contacted said they received no report.

“Since Birdman get killed (referring to Smith’s brother Curtis, who was killed last year) people getting killed like flies, for no reason and we are fed up of the unnecessary bloodshed,” the resident said.

“If there are real police out there who care about the black man, let them come in and help us…save our lives from the bullets,” the resident said.

A close relative of Charles said that he was currently organising a peace walk in La Puerta.

On Wednesday, at about 8.35 am Charles, who was driving a vehicle, had just entered a driveway when a white SUV, which was said to be outfitted with blue flashing lights and a siren, stopped behind.

Two men, wearing khaki suits and bullet-proof vests, and armed with assault rifles, alighted the SUV and dragged Charles out of the car to the SUV where they shot him several times. Smith, who was standing near Riverside Drive, a short distance away, was also shot. Smith was taken to the St James Infirmary where he died while undergoing treatment.

CCTV footage showed the men getting into the SUV after the shooting and reversing over Charles’ body before speeding off.

No one has been arrested for the double murder. Investigations are continuing.

Lifeguards yesterday threatened to withhold their services if new Minister of National Security, Stuart Young, does not meet with them to address key issues by the end of next month.

About 75 of them gathered outside the Ministry’s head office, in Port-of-Spain, yesterday to complain about the lack of equipment and insufficient manpower to patrol the nation’s beaches.

A senior ministry official met with the lifeguards and assured them that by Monday, a date for a meeting with the minister will be set.

The lifeguards said they had been trying to meet with the former minister, Edmund Dillon, since April 2016.

Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, health and safety officer of the Lifeguard Branch of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW), Augustus Sylvester said the lifeguard service is in dire need of jet skis and rescue boats.

He said that so far for the year, up until the end of July, at Maracas Bay, there have been three drownings and 40 rescues.

He added that last year there was one drowning and 63 rescues, as compared to six drownings and 120 rescues in 2016.

“We are operating with little or no equipment. We have no motorised vehicles in the service to carry out our functions effectively. Every time a lifeguard performs their respective duty they are not sure if they will reach back home because our lives are at risk out there,” Sylvester said.

“We are understaffed, with just 115 lifeguards. In the last eight years, there has been no employment of lifeguards to man the nine beaches throughout Trinidad. Most of the lifeguards are either retired or rudely fired for the smallest of things,” he added.

Sylvester said the existing ambulance at Maracas Bay is not properly equipped with life-saving equipment as well as a first aid kit.

“It is used mainly for transporting people from the beach to the nearest health facility…in this modern day, this is what we are faced with...the problem is no funds.”

Sylvester said if there is no meeting by end of September when there are forecast to be rough seas, the lifeguards would be forced to “withhold our services.”

Contacted for comment Young expressed shock over the lifeguards’ actions.

“At the Town Hall meeting I held with the staff of the Ministry of National Security, two days ago, the first person to ask me a question or address me was a lifeguard. I listened to him voice their concerns and responded by saying that I would like to meet with them soon.”

“I was surprised to be told of this action this morning after Tuesday’s interaction and also the fact that between Tuesday afternoon and today I had received no communication from the lifeguards. My understanding is that they met with the Permanent Secretary and I will get an update. Lifeguards are an important pillar of public safety in T&T and the Ministry of National Security will certainly treat with them,” Young added.

The murder of 79-year-old family doctor during an armed robbery sent shock waves in the eastern town of Sangre Grande yesterday.

Dr Sinanan Lutchman, of Guaico Tamana Road, succumbed to a gunshot injury about 30 minutes after he was shot.

The father of one was at his Paul Street office around 2 pm when two men, wearing bandanas, entered the doctor’s office.

Armed with guns, they demanded the doctor hand over cash and his licenced firearm.

He was shot to his forehead and fell to the ground.

The bandits tied up the doctor’s common-law wife, who works as the receptionist, and demanded money. They took the cash and the doctor’s firearm and ran out of the building. They escaped by running along Paul Street.

Employees from nearby business heard the woman’s screams alerted the police.

Police officers from Sangre Grande CID and Crime Patrol Unit responded and took the injured doctor to the Sangre Grande District Hospital. He died but succumbed to his injuries during emergency treatment.

As news spread of the incident, people gathered outside the doctor’s office. Many commented that the Lutchman was a friendly and caring doctor should not have to die in such a brutal way.

Former patients were crying and said Lutchman was the only doctor who will assist the poor and when they visited his office and did not have the money.

He was also the doctor for the Home for the Aged at Green Acres, Foster Road, Sangre Grande. When the caretaker of the home heard that the doctor was killed, she wept and recalled only on Sunday he was making jokes with the residents there.

The doctor’s son, who did not disclose his name, said he had visited his father’s office earlier where he dropped off some grapes and within an hour he received a phone call informing him that his father was shot.

He said he could not believe the news. At the hospital, the son wept and questioned why the bandits had to kill his father.

“He was a kind, generous and loving to people, he never made himself above his patients, he always reached their level,” he said.

President of Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce, Ricardo Mohammed told Guardian Media that Lutchman “was a warm, generous man, who at times gave free medical check-up to patients. His motive was to assist the sick and make them feel well.”

Businesswoman Indra Sinanan-Ojah Maharaj said the chamber is going to pass a motion to prevent people from wearing hats and caps when entering business places in Sangre Grande.

She recalled that Lutchman sold chicken to pursue his studies and always said it was better to work hard and earn an honest day’s pay.

“Some people now only want to collect money with the use of a firearm,” she said.

The body of Lutchman will be taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James today for an autopsy.

Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage from nearby buildings which they hope can help identify the killers.

Officers from Homicide Bureau, Region 2, Arouca is continuing investigation.

Visiting the scene were ASP Etienne, Cpl Hanooman, PCs Toussaint, Bhaggan, Mahabir, WPC Adolphus and Insp Lawrence and other officers from Homicide Bureau.

Residents of a San Fernando community are living in fear of a suspected serial arsonist whom they say is responsible for yesterday’s house fire in which a father and son were injured.

Cecil Phillip, 85, and his son Elvis, 55, narrowly escaped death after the arsonist succeeded on his sixth attempt to burn down their house at the corner of Rushworth and Harris Streets. Their next-door neighbours, a family of five, were forced to jump through a window after the blaze spread to their roof and destroyed the upper floor of their house.

Residents suspect the arsonist is behind a string of fires in the San Fernando area. CCTV footage has linked him to at least three house fires in a four-block radius. Residents said the arsonist usually targets wooden vintage houses, strikes during the early hours of the morning and uses a flammable concoction to carry out his attacks.

The Phillip’s house was set on fire around 4 am. They hid in a concrete area to the back of their wooden home until the Fire Services doused the flames. The father and son suffered burns and were taken to the San Fernando General Hospital for treatment.

One of their relatives, who did not want to be named, complained, “This is the sixth time this happen and they keep making reports and nobody has been arrested. This person just keeps burning people houses,” she said.

Neighbour Bodnath Maharaj said he, his wife, two children, ages 12 and 7, and his mother, 79, jumped through a back window after the flames spread to their home. His wife received minor burns to her hands.

“I wasn’t seeing the neighbours, I thought they died,” said Maharaj, who complained that his neighbours made several reports to the police.

“Is five times they tried before to burn down the man house. There is a guy maliciously burning people houses and he always strike around 4 am,” he complained.

Another resident, Ian Chadee, said the arsonist made two attempts to burn down his parents home. He said the arsonist returned to his parents home early yesterday but went to Phillip’s house after he apparently saw the renovation work done to the house.

Following the second attack in May, he said his parents renovated the front wooden porch to an enclosed concrete board area.

“This morning he came with the concoction in his hand, his face covered, his gloves on, he watched up and realised it made no sense,” he surmised.

He said they have also installed security cameras, paid for private security patrols, installed wire mesh on all their windows and bought several fire extinguishers.

Chadee said the arsonist fit the description of the man captured on surveillance footage setting fire to the home and used bookstore of Merlyn Mohammed at the corner of Freeling and Rushworth Streets, last August.

Mohammed was hospitalised after she was badly burnt. Chadee said he and other relatives take turns staying with his parents, ages 77 and 68, and niece, in the event that the arsonist strikes.

He believes the police could identify and arrest the suspect if they obtain and sift through CCTV footage from the surrounding homes and businesses.

Police confirmed that both the Philip and Chadee families made reports at the San Fernando Police Station.

Police are investigating whether arson was the cause of a fire which destroyed the former headquarters of the Port-of-Spain Scouts, yesterday.

According to reports, officials learned of the suspected attack when they met the wooden and concrete building at Lady Chancellor Road on fire during a visit yesterday.

By the time fire officers arrived on the scene, the entire building was engulfed in flames. While they were unable to save the building, the officers managed to stop the fire from spreading to the Horticultural Society’s headquarters, which is located next door.

Contacted yesterday, executive commissioner of the Scouts Association of T&T Courtney Bruce said his organisation was convinced that the attack was arson as Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the premises in March.

“We suspect that it is arson. There are some persons who are interested in the property as far as I understand,” Bruce said. He did not reveal the names of the suspected arsonists or people interested in the property.

Bruce said the association was using the property for camping and outdoor activities because of the dilapidated state of the building.

“We are a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and we are finding it difficult to maintain the property because of funds,” Bruce said.

He said it could not afford 24-hour security and traditional security measures did not stop the arsonists in the past.

“We have put locks and chains on the gates and they would forever cut them and use the place for parking,” he said.

Despite the lack of resources, Bruce said the association would continue with its work and would attempt to rebuild.

He described the attack as disturbing.

Bruce said: “People are complaining about the youths these days and here we are trying to fill a void by developing character and so on in the young people.”

Members of the public who may wish to make donations to the association can contact the Association at 624-7271.

Investigations are continuing.

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Arrive Alive president Sharon Inglefield is urging victims of vehicular collisions on the highway to refrain from walking out onto the roadway when possible. She made the plea following the tragic deaths of Aarti Sarah Basdeo, 25, and her mother Lutchmin Rampersad, 52, yesterday.

Inglefield said that depending on how badly the person is hurt and based on the condition or location of the crashed vehicle, he or she should remain inside of the wreck and call for help.

Reports stated that around 4.30 am yesterday, Basdeo, of Rousillac was driving a white Nissan Wingroad along the south-bound lane of Uriah Butler Highway with Rampersad, of Penal, in the front passenger seat. While approaching the Chaguanas overpass, there was a collision with a black pick-up which was parked on the highway, close to Chaguanas exit.

The pick-up was said to have been left there after it was involved in a prior accident. Basdeo ran out of the vehicle after the collision but was struck by an oncoming pick-up and thrown forward. That driver stopped a short distance away.

Other motorists stopped to assist and the Chaguanas police and Highway Patrol Unit were contacted. When they arrived, they found Rampersad dead in the front seat.

Basdeo, who was on the roadside, was taken to hospital where she died hours later. Inglefield told Guardian Media that walking onto highways with four to six lanes is extremely dangerous and motorists and their passengers have to be careful when getting out on the highways during any situation.

She called for more patrols on the highway.

“Once again, we make an appeal to the police to be out in the night. We also encourage the Government to pass the speed legislation that will include ticketing by camera, wherein the cases where the police can’t be in certain places at nights, the cameras can pick up those who go above the speed limit and break traffic lights,” Inglefield said.

There have been several other survivors of road traffic accidents who have been fatally knocked over by passing vehicles. Just last month, businessman Javed Hassanali, 37, was killed when he was struck by a white wagon as he stepped onto the San Fernando Bypass. Mere seconds before, Hassanali had accidentally veered his Toyota Hilux into the median of the bypass. The driver that struck him never stopped.

Inglefield said that in many cases, accidents survivors who walk onto the highway are struck by speeding motorists. She said that anyone struck by a vehicle travelling at a rate between 50-60 kmph has a 50 per cent chance of survival while being hit at 80 kmph mostly ends in fatality.

“Motorists on the highway need to be driving within the speed limit and take road conditions into consideration. If it is wet, you do not necessarily drive at the speed limit, you adapt to the conditions. You do not speak on your cellphone and you stay aware of what is going on around you. At 4.30 am, you should be aware that the lights are very tricky and you need to make sure that the portion of the road you’re driving on is well lit and the road condition is good.”

She also said that utility poles are placed too close to the roadside and often times when people accidentally veer on the road, they crash into poles, which often results in death.

While PNM executive members remain silent on some citizens’ demands for an apology for last Sunday’s gorilla “sari-stripping” skit, one PNM Tabaquite official has apologised.

“If people feel offended by something, one should apologise. While I had no part in organising the skit, I apologise in my personal capacity,” PNM Tabaquite vice chairman Julian Adams told Guardian Media yesterday.

The skit organised by PNM’s Tabaquite unit sparked condemnation after depicting gorillas unravelling a sari of a woman during the party’s sports and family day last Sunday in Chaguanas.

Hindu groups and feminist organisations decried it as a mockery of Hinduism, East Indians and the significance of the sari in East Indian tradition, as well as encouraging violence against women.

Concern was exacerbated by National Security Minister Stuart Young’s view that it was a “lil bit of fun.” On Thursday, protesters demonstrated outside of the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair calling on PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley and Young to apologise.

Young didn’t answer calls or respond to text messages. Nor did other PNM executive officials.

PNM Tabaquite chairman Curtis Shade didn’t respond when asked if an apology would be forthcoming, instead, he asked, “All this because Tabaquite gone PNM?”

But the PNM’s Tabaquite vice chairman said, “I attended the Family Day but I wasn’t part of the team that did the skit and didn’t see it so I can’t condemn as such. But if people felt offended about it, people must apologise. So I offer a personal apology.”

“I’m vice chairman of this unit and I was born and bred in Tabaquite. I’m a minister—a bishop. I live among the people. I speak my mind. If people feel hurt by something, we’re a cosmopolitan country, why can’t we say we’re sorry? People make mistakes, people must be able to apologise if others feel hurt.”

UNC activist Devant Maharaj said he had spoken to the Equal Opportunities Commission which confirmed receipt of his complaint about the skit.

Maharaj wrote EOC on Monday calling for it to examine apparent breaches of the Equal Opportunities Act by the PNM’s skit. He cited Section 7 (1) and (2) of the EOC Act (Chap. 22:03).

This states a person shall not otherwise than in private, do any act which:

• Is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of persons;

• Is done because of the gender, race, ethnicity, origin or religion of the other person or of some or all of the persons in the group; and

• Which is done with the intention of inciting gender, racial or religious hatred.

• For the purposes of subsection (1), an act is taken not to be done in private if it causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the public; is done in a public place, or is done in the sight and hearing of persons who are in a public place.

T&T’s newly-appointed Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith said yesterday there will be “less talk and more action” from him as he took over the reigns of the Police Service.

One of his main missions, he said, is to reduce crime, the fear of crime and regain public trust and confidence in the TTPS.

Griffith yesterday gave the assurance that he will not let down the citizens of the country as he is here “to serve my God, my country and the people of this great country.”

“I intend to do my job, serve my country and the people of this great country. I have an enormous task but I am prepared…I can ensure you that I will not let you down,” Griffith said.

On Thursday, according to Minister of National Security Stuart Young, Cabinet approved and confirmed Griffith’s terms and conditions. Young thanked Griffith for agreeing and accepting the reasonable package.

Young told members of the media during a media conference held at the ministry’s Temple Court, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain that Griffith’s contract was executed on Thursday night where he officially received his instrument of appointment by the ministry’s permanent secretary Vel Lewis.

In a bid to restore public trust and confidence in the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and to deal with the issue of rogue officers within the service, Griffith said he will be using “a scientific approach.”

He said he intends to use four principles—leadership, good management, measurement of performance and accountability­ to get the job done.

Griffith said he would ensure that police officers “will be made accountable” and their performance measured.

“Those scientific measures that will be used should not only be seen as to discipline a police officer or to suspend or fire them but it can also be used as a yardstick to ensure that the police officer can actually measure, based on his performance, above and beyond the call of duty to ensure reward or promotion,” Griffith said.

“Those are the systems that can be used to improve the police service and weed out the rogue elements that exist,” he said.

Griffith promised that many of the initiatives and policies would be implemented to ensure a reduction in crime.

He also said that he would be working with all stakeholders, inclusive of the citizens “to ensure their fundamental rights are adhered to.”

“I can assure you that my job, my intention is to ensure public trust and confidence is brought back into the service…I have a good working knowledge…there will be much less talking and more action this time around,” Griffith said.

Griffith said he intends to prove himself by displaying maturity and leadership and seeking to engage all in dialogue.

“I have received via WhatsApp and email about 2,000 crime plans from citizens and I will respond to every one. Every citizen has a part to play and I would not ignore any recommendation. I intend to meet with all stakeholders because I certainly do not know everything,” Griffith said.

Asked of operational strategies, Griffith said he preferred not to comment until further notice, however, Young interjected saying that some of that will require new and amended legislation.

“We are actively looking at that with the Attorney General’s Office. In National Security, my opinion is that certain things can be spoken about and some not spoken about. We are already operating where elements are against us…If you are going to war, you are not going to declare what the strategy is,” Young said.

Young, in his statement, thanked outgoing Stephen Williams, who proceeded on a ten-day vacation leave from yesterday, as acting in the position as CoP for the last six years.

“We thank Williams for playing the role and performing the role and doing his utmost best in very trying circumstances. We, as a nation, owe him the gratitude of service for all he has done for the country. He has done it without any complaint and gave his best along with the rest of the police service,” Young said.

Subsequent to the media conference, Griffith was escorted over to the TTPS’ Administration Building where he officially took the Oath Affirmation of Office and Secrecy, as CoP.

The oath was administered at 10.35 am by the acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Administration, Erla Christopher, and witnessed by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Security, Vel Lewis, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Crime and Support, Harold Phillip and acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Deodat Dulalchan, in the Commissioner’s Office, 6th Floor.

Griffith is the country’s 12th CoP, after Canadian Dwayne Gibbs, who served from 2010-2012.

Williams, whose substantive rank is that of Deputy Commissioner of Police, acted in the position from August 7, 2012, to August 16, 2018.

The 2018 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and CAPE examination results have been the best this country has seen in the last decade.

While this has been good news for Education Minister Anthony Garcia, it has also created cause for concern, as 1,486 of the 16,042 CSEC students in government and government-assisted schools who sat the examinations this year did not obtain a pass mark in any subject area.

At a press conference at his ministry yesterday, Garcia assured that his ministry has rolled out a number of initiatives that will bring better CSEC results in 2019.

Garcia attributed a number of factors for the unsuccessful students, ranging from students not being able to cope academically, abject poverty, lack of reading materials in some homes and weak family structures.

In giving a breakdown of the results, Garcia said 60.78 per cent of CSEC students obtained a full certificate, while 56.47 per cent of students were able to attain five subjects which included English and Mathematics.

In 2017, the ministry had recorded 1,725 CSEC students scoring a zero pass rate.

Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan said the ministry had recorded the highest CESC pass rate with five and more subjects in the last ten years.

Seecharan said 60.78 per cent of students who wrote the examination obtained five and more subjects, while 56.47 per cent got five and more with Mathematics and English.

He said the pass rates in 14 subjects in 2018 were higher than last year’s.

Seecharan noted that 51.93 per cent of boys who wrote the CSEC examination in 2018 “got five and more (subjects) with Maths and English, compared to last year’s 47.88 per cent.

“This has been an improvement.”

“Both at CSEC and CAPE this year we had performances that exceeded the past ten years. In other words, we’ve had the best results in the past ten years this year,” Seecharan boasted.

Seecharan said a number of the 1,400 unsuccessful CSEC students also sat subjects in the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) this year.

“So many of those students not passing CSEC subjects may have been successful in the CVQ subjects,” Seecharan said, which would change the pass rate figures significantly when the CVQ results are announced.

Garcia said the results of the CAPE examination continue to be excellent.

This year, he said in Unit 1 of CAPE, 95.31 per cent of students achieved a passing grade, stating that this figure showed a slight improvement compared to last year’s figure of 95.06 per cent.

The 95.31 per cent represented “22,381 subject entries,” Garcia said.

In Unit 2, of the 11,128 subject entries, Garcia said 94.7 per cent of the received a passing grade. Last year, 94.44 per cent of the students had obtained a passing grade.

“Of the 32 subjects written by our students…26 of these subjects had students scoring more than 90 per cent,” Garcia said.

As private and public sector agencies come together to assist flood-ravaged residents of Beetham Gardens, in Port-of-Spain one of the main organisers of distributing the relief efforts says he was told to return the goods.

“Just after we collected some other items from one of the sponsors, we got a call asking if we distributed the goods already. I asked why. They wanted to know if I could bring it back. I asked why and the person indicated from the ministry said the representative told them to bring it back,” Kareem Marcelle told Guardian Media yesterday.

The relief supplies came with the help of Government ministers Dr Lovell Francis, Paula Gopee-Scoon, and members of the private sector, including ANSA McAL, parent company of Guardian Media.

The relief volunteers refused to return the goods saying people lost everything and continued the distribution, he says, with the focus on the elderly, young and infirmed.

“Even if the items would have gone back, we’d have to wait for some grand exercise, some grand press conference, when people need it now. We need to go in and clean up now. The rains are coming now,” he said.

He and other activists took to Facebook to vent.

Marcelle said he was contacted by Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds.

“Fortunately MP Hinds did contact me and cleared up the matter, explaining that it was not any sort of vengeance or victimisation but more so that he wanted to be part of the process,” he said.

The activist claims after the dousing of floodwater on Hinds on Tuesday by some residents, help has been hard to come by, saying “No one from the ODPM has come because they are being told they cannot come into the community without the councillor and the MP. They have been holding that sort of tight leash on the amenities when the real victims continue to suffer,” Marcelle said.

E-courier Web Source has advised its customers to think twice before purchasing sex toys online.

In correspondence issued to its customers yesterday, the company claimed that the intimate devices fell under the Customs and Excise Division’s list of prohibited items.

Other items include camouflage patterns, illegal drugs, cigarettes, honey, plants, seeds, soil and toy guns, including those with brightly coloured muzzles. Firearm holsters are also prohibited unless the importer has a valid firearm user’s licence.

It said: “Please note that Customs will be inspecting all packages to ensure compliance with the law. As such, they can and will seize the items listed below and any other prohibited items.”

It also noted that its shipping fees remain payable even if prohibited items are seized.

Despite the warning, sources within the division, who spoke to television station CNC3, said that not all sex toys are prohibited as only items which closely resemble actual sex organs would be barred.

However, they noted that the final decision on each item rests with the Customs officer, who is assigned to inspect that package.

The prohibition of sex toys falls under Section 45 (l) of the Customs Act, which barred the importation of “indecent or obscene prints, paintings, photographs, books, cards, lithographic or other engravings, gramophone records or any other indecent or obscene articles or matter”.

The Criminal Offences Act and Summary Offences Act also outlaws the distribution and sale of such illicit items.

Police sources said that while the items have been prohibited for decades under the legislation, some packages may slip pass Customs officials, who may just perform random searches. Some people also elude the legislation by smuggling the items in the suitcases during overseas trips.

The People’s National Movement (PNM) disciplinary committee read out three charges of alleged corruption and bribery involving the procurement of Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) buses to suspended member Harry Ragoonanan on Thursday.

Ragoonanan said the charges were read out to him by the committee chaired by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain.

It was the first time Ragoonanan had appeared before the committee with his attorney Mario Merritt since being suspended by the party last October.

On Monday, acting Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds said the PNM had received information and a complaint from a citizen “about a most untoward conversation that was electronically recorded between Mr Ragoonanan and a bus supplier to the PTSC.”

Hinds said he found the contents of the June 1, 2016 recording to be “troubling” and the party had invited Ragoonanan before its disciplinary committee to defend himself.

Communications Minister Stuart Young also described the recording as “most troubling and suggestions of corrupt practices and behaviour with respect to procurement at PTSC.”

Appearing before the committee, Ragoonanan said, “They told me I was guilty on three counts of trying to influence people with respect to a bus tender and to give a defence. I told them I never tendered for any buses, and in any case, I was not prepared to argue anything until I get full disclosure of everything that they have.”

Ragoonanan said the committee said they were not willing to reopen their investigation and could not provide the full disclosure he had requested.

“They said they would have to meet as a committee and decide what they can give me. The laws of justice demand that I be given full disclosure. The committee would have to produce that evidence (tape) now. Then we would have to cross-examine the so-called whistleblower…that man from China on the tape. We would want him to appear before the committee to give evidence.”

Ragoonanan said he felt the committee wanted him to cave in and say he was sorry.

“I suspected that if I had done that they would have expelled me from the party there and then. That I feel was the plan. I am awaiting their feedback.”

—Shaliza Hassanali

The new T&T Young Adult novel Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini will be included in a national secondary schools book tour from September-December.

Home Home's manuscript was awarded in the 2017 CODE Burt Awards for Caribbean Young Adult Literature at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Port-of-Spain. It was first published in the Caribbean and UK by Dominican publisher Papillote Press in June, 2018. The rights to the book have since been acquired by US publisher Delacorte Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Delacorte's North American edition is scheduled for publication in Spring of 2020.

"Home Home is “the story of a Trinidadian girl's journey to recovery from a mental illness after she is sent to live with her estranged, lesbian aunt and removed from anything and everyone she knows to be home,” said the Publishers Weekly rights report on August 6.

According to a release, The Bocas Lit Fest will co-ordinate a tour of T&T schools by Home Home author Allen-Agostini and other Burt Award winners in the coming term. Allen-Agostini is an award-winning journalist, fiction writer and poet, and the author of three other books.

In partnership with CODE, the Ministry of Education and the Educational School Libraries Division of Nalis, Home Home and other Burt Award books will be distributed to the libraries of 26 secondary schools around the country. “This culturally-relevant and engaging YA novel will also be a required reading text for Form Three students of San Juan North Secondary School as part of a pilot project of introducing Burt Award winning books to the English Literature syllabus,” said tour co-ordinator Anna Lucie-Smith of Bocas Lit Fest.

The Bocas Lit Fest and Papillote Press will co-host a Home Home reading and discussion at the Writers Centre, St Clair, in September. The book is available online and from Metropolitan Book Suppliers, Paper Based Bookshop and other retailers.

Anna-Lisa Paul

Two years after Prime Minister and Political Leader of the People's National Movement (PNM) Dr Keith Rowley urged members to contribute beyond their means to help with the construction of the new Balisier House, that dream is set to become a reality as officials will turn the sod in the next two weeks.

Confirming this was one of the "significant" events taking place on the eve of Independence—August 30—party chairman Franklin Khan yesterday said the proposed entity will represent a new beginning for the PNM.

He described the five-storey building which included underground parking as a "self-sustaining" entity.

Addressing reporters following the PNM's General Council meeting at the party headquarters at Tranquillity Street, Khan said "This is the single biggest thing that will be happening to the party for many many years since this Balisier House was acquired by Dr Eric Williams in the 60s. The party has made no significant investment of this scale as a party."

Pressed to say how much it was expected to cost, Khan said "That figure would have to be determined by the tender."

However, he admitted it would run into the "tens of millions".

The new structure is expected to provide office space for party operations but will also feature rental spaces which will enable the PNM to generate a steady cash flow stream for the party's longevity.

The current Balisier House is to be refurbished and used as a museum and archive library.

Also taking place on August 30 will be the first drawing of the party's ten-car raffle, one of the fundraisers hosted by the PNM to aid in the construction financing. Khan said three lucky ticket holders would walk away with a brand new vehicle in the first draw.

Tickets cost $100 each. Nine of the cars are Honda City CNG cars and the first prize is a BMW 3 CD.

Election date shifted

Meanwhile, Khan confirmed the General Council had ratified the decision to shift the election date from September 16 to September 30 as he insisted there was "nothing sinister" about it.

He explained that the election date had clashed with the final of the Caribbean Premier League T20 which would take place at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, on September 16.

Khan said, "Bearing in mind that this is a one-man one-vote system, I think we would have been jeopardising the election system if we had kept it on that date."

Nomination period will run from September 3-7 with the 87,000 PNM members who are currently in good standing. Khan said they are free to contest any position they so desire.

PM Rowley did not attend yesterday's General Council meeting due to a prior commitment.

KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

A bookstore worker got the shock of his life on Friday evening when he returned to his car to find the body of a man lying on the floor.

The man was not identified up to late yesterday and investigators said no preliminary cause of death could be determined as there were no marks of violence or signs to suggest how he died.

Police reports stated that around 6 pm, they were contacted by the owner of Richie's Bar, which is located along the Point Fortin Main Road. The owner reported that she observed someone lying unresponsive in a silver Mitsubishi Lancer that was parked along the main road. Sgt Sobie and PC Maharaj of the Point Fortin CID went to the scene where they interviewed the car’s owner, Dean Joseph, who said that he parked the car there around 8.20 am and left for work.

He told police that he locked the front doors using the key alarm system but forgot to manually lock the back doors. When he returned that afternoon, he found the man lying motionless behind the driver’s seat and did not know who he was. The body was still warm when the officers' checked and the man was taken to the Point Fortin hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police said the man appeared to be an Afro-Trinidadian in his 70s whose hair was greying. He was wearing a red T-shirt, is six ft tall, slim built with dark skin tone. Anyone with information can contact Point Fortin police at 648-2426 or call any police station.

BOBIE-LEE DIXON

(bobie-lee.dixon@guardian.co.tt)

Stolen equipment, threats, and demands for large sums of money from contractors are the reasons behind the continuous disruption in routine dredging of the two major rivers that run through the Beetham.

These obstructions have contributed to the flooding issue in Beetham Gardens. So said Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan and recently assaulted MP for Laventille West Fitzgerald Hinds.

Yesterday as work resumed on the waterways by contractors V&V Contracting Ltd, now under the watchful eyes of the Police Service and Defence Force, Sinanan and Hinds told the media as recent as August 10, prior to the flooding at Beetham Gardens on August 13 and 14, contractors were chased out of the area by “certain elements”, forcing them to abandon the dredging exercise which led to the flooding.

“While the contractor was mobilising to do the dredging certain elements would have moved in and told the contractor he had to stop. However, with the cooperation of National Security this morning, the work has started back and we intend to continue this work, which would help with the flooding in the Beetham and Barataria areas,” said Sinanan.

He said the work, which began in January, would have been completed already if that incident had not occurred on August 10. He subsequently noted that as a result of these ongoing interferences, taxpayers are feeling the brunt as contractors arguably ask for more because of the risks involved in working in these specific areas. He said if that continues, a job that should cost $100,000 in certain areas will now cost $200,000, because very few contractors will bid for the job and when they do, they want to cover all the risks involved.

'A few misguided, illiterate miscreants'

Hinds, who was doused with flood waters by a few residents last Tuesday on a visit to the area where he hoped to bring relief to flood-affected residents, said obstruction of routine dredging by "miscreants" of the community dated as far back as the 90s when the PNM procured the services of Carl King Company Ltd to do dredging of the entire drain from Morvant Junction right down to the Citrus Growers, in order to clean and pave the murky drain that ran alongside the Priority Bus Route in the Beetham.

Fearing for his life and that of his workers as well as the safety of his equipment, after equipment was stolen and $400,000 was demanded of the contractor to return it, the job was abandoned. Hinds noted the drain remained unfinished up to today.

In another instance, Hinds said Lutchmeesingh's Transport Contractors Limited, one of the contractors hired during the rebuilding of four culverts which had become clogged, feared for his life after some miscreants of the Beetham Gardens again approached that contractor demanding $400,000 or else he and his workers would meet trouble. He said the contractor did not concede to the demand and shots were subsequently fired from the Beetham, injuring one of his supervisors. Following that incident, he said, $200,000 of taxpayers' money had to be spent in security.

He also highlighted a similar occurrence during the reconverting of the Laventille Technology Centre where workmen were robbed of their valuables on the first day of the job.

Hinds said the dredging exercises were of grave importance as the waterways must remain clean to prevent flooding issues, but there were those who insisted that it must stay this way.

“We have an understanding as to why they want it to stay this way but we also understand why it cannot remain this way because the water will not flow out,” said Hinds.

Taking the opportunity to address his unfortunate encounter last week with a few of his constituents, Hinds said what was displayed was "the share ignorance of a few misguided, illiterate miscreants whom many from that constituency found to be gravely offensive but many of them cannot outrightly say it as they will come under serious threat". He said he could confirm this from the knowledge he has from past events. Hinds said he holds no malice against the people, but wanted the handful of troublemakers to know that when they behave like that they are causing their entire neighbourhood to be stigmatised and marginalised as a consequence. He said the many comments from the public regarding the entire community worried him to a degree as not all residents of Beetham Gardens are like the few who engaged in the act.

“So don't blame all of Beetham, it is a handful of misguided people who feel they could bully their way through everybody in this society,” Hinds said.

He said he will address the national community about Laventille soon.

(SEE Pages A6, A7)

Joel Julien

Suspended People's National Movement (PNM) member Harry Ragoonanan is considering legal action against the PNM political party and possibly its leader Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for trying to bring his name into disrepute.

"Of course, I will be taking legal action action because the prime minister is out in the public domain saying that I am the worst the country has to offer and then I cannot have a trial...I must have the man who made the tape in the same room with me so that he can be cross examined by my lawyers. They are not taking natural justice seriously," Ragoonanan told the Sunday Guardian in a telephone interview.

"My lawyers will deal with what it is, they told me to say nothing and just hold on and wait," he said.

On Tuesday, two days before the PNM's disciplinary committee found Ragoonanan guilty of three charges of alleged corruption and bribery involving the procurement of Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) buses, Rowley described him as the worst this county has to offer.

Ragoonanan appeared before the party's disciplinary committee chaired by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis with his attorney Mario Merritt on Thursday.

Ragoonanan has been suspended since October last year.

He has followed the PNM since 1956 and had been the PNM's Oropouche constituency chairman for 17 years before his suspension.

Ragoonanan called for full disclosure from the disciplinary committee and was told they would get back to him on the issue.

Among the evidence the committee is said to have had in its possession was a telephone recording between Ragoonanan and another individual.

Ragoonanan said while he was denied access to the recording, he heard it being played on a radio station yesterday.

"The whole process was contaminated," Ragoonanan said.

He said the chain of custody of the recording was unknown and its authenticity was therefore questionable.

The alleged conversations were said to take place in June, July and September 2016.

The special PTSC tender involved was aborted.

Ragoonanan said the laws of natural justice dictates that he would have been given full disclosure and also be able to cross-examine the whistle-blower.

The PNM disciplinary committee said it was not reopening the investigation into the matter, Ragoonanan said.

On Monday acting Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds said the PNM had received information and a complaint from a citizen "about a most untoward conversation that was electronically recorded between Mr Ragoonanan and a bus supplier to the PTSC".

Hinds said he found the contents of the recording to be "troubling".

National Security minister Stuart Young also described the recording as "most troubling and suggests of corrupt practices and behaviours with respect to procurement at PTSC".

Young said the State played no role in the electronic recording.

Ragoonanan said he believes he is being targeted for speaking out about the sea-bridge fiasco.

Ragoonanan appeared with former minister of the People's partnership government Devant Maharaj and maritime attorney Nyree Alfonso during a media briefing last Sunday where they questioned Government's decision to purchase two marine patrol vessels from Austal.

Maharaj yesterday said "interestingly these 'recordings' have only surfaced when the relationship between Harry Ragoonanan and the Rowley Administration soured over the lack of procurement process regarding the ferries for the collapsed sea bridge".

Maharaj questioned whether the in-house PNM investigation would adversely affect any police investigation that may or may not be ongoing or may start.

Rowley slammed Ragoonanan for seeking company with Maharaj and Alfonso.

A police investigation into the recording involving Ragoonanan is said to have commenced months before the PNM invoked Article 26 of the party's constitution which states that members under investigation could be suspended during that period.

When questioned about an update on the Ragoonanan situation during a press conference following the party's General Council meeting yesterday, PNM chairman Franklin Khan said due process was taking place and that he did not want to say more on the matter.

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Despite the war of words between Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget, the two are scheduled to meet this Tuesday to discuss the anticipated restructuring of Petrotrin. Based on correspondence between the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and the OWTU, Rowley and seven members of the union are expected to meet at the Prime Minister’s office in St Clair.

During the PNM’s Family and Sports Day in Chaguanas last week Sunday, Rowley responded to a call by Roget for Petrotrin workers to gather outside the Prime Minister’s official residence in St Ann’s next Sunday to kneel and pray for the debt-riddled Petrotrin. “Don’t threaten me,” was Rowley’s response, adding that he had no quarrel with Roget, whom he had invited for talks.

“He refused to speak to me as Prime Minister. He preferred to stand on the pavement and shout, and I understand he is coming to kneel down outside the Prime Minister’s residence and to march,” Rowley said. But this caused major contention for the OWTU as Roget accused Rowley of being a liar, saying that the PM never invited him for talks.

The OWTU leader, in a media conference last Tuesday, described Rowley’s remarks at the Family and Sports Day as “the ranting of a desperate man” who was unqualified, incompetent, and inexperienced for the job he has and was desperate, deceitful, ungrateful, and lazy”.

“I challenge him to tell me the date and time he had spoken and requested to meet with me,” Roget said. Based on correspondence sent to the media yesterday, five days after Rowley’s statement, Permanent Secretary in the office of the Prime Minister Maurice Suite sent a letter to Roget under the subject:

Request for a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss matters related to the restructuring of the Petroleum Company of T&T. The letter stated: “I have been asked by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley to invite you and up to six members of the OWTU to a meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister, 13-15 St Clair Avenue, Port-of-Spain on Tuesday, 21 August 2018 at 10.30 am.”

In a response written on the same day, addressed directly to Rowley, Roget accepted the invitation and informed that the names of his accompanying officers would be submitted by tomorrow. Calls to Roget’s phone yesterday were unanswered.

While the OWTU had not admitted that it supported the PNM in the 2015 election, Roget was adamant that the People’s Partnership government had to be voted out. In 2015, the OWTU met with Rowley, then opposition leader, and signed a Memorandum of Agreement with regards to labour policies. The OWTU also met with the Independent Labour Party. In 2016, the OWTU’s vice president Carlton Gibson was the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (Fitun) representative on the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC). However, labour leaders soon withdrew from the NTAC, claiming disrespect by the Government.

Since then Roget has been criticising the Government, especially Rowley, for their handling of the country. During this year’s annual Labour Day Rally in Fyzabad, he gave the Government a failing grade for its handling of crime, the economy, labour, health, and education.